It offers clear sound with a 120dB signal to noise ratio (SNR), strong 600ohm headphone amplifier, asynchronous USB audio and swappable Op-Amps for DIY sound modification. Precision clock tuning technology further enhances audio fidelity, making Xonar Essence STU a great choice for discerning music lovers who need a quality DAC and headphone amplifier to drive the full capabilities of high-end headphones.

"We received considerable positive feedback from customers regarding the excellent sound quality of Xonar Essence ST/STX sound cards, which led us to develop Xonar Essence STU as a USB device that offers even more premium audio quality plus easy controls and connectivity to notebooks. This is another example of ASUS listening to the community and acting on consumer demand”, said Ives Chiu, Audiovisual Product Manager at the ASUS Multimedia Business Unit.

ASUS uses audio industry-leading components such as the Texas Instruments PCM1792A DAC and TPA6120A2 headphone amplifier, which supports up to 600ohm impedance. Also included are audiophile-approved WIMA FKP2 and Nichicon Finegold capacitors for balanced and rich sound.

To satisfy the most demanding users, Xonar Essence STU features precision clock tuning technology and asynchronous audio transfer. Both ensure accurate and jitter-free sound fidelity, allowing customers to enjoy music in its purest form. Bit-perfect playback is aided by support for ASIO audio drivers.

Complete ease of use
As an external device, Xonar Essence STU offers readily-accessible controls with no need to go into software menus. Customers can switch between low and high gain settings, accommodating better listening experiences across a wide range of headphones, from in-ear headsets (typically 16ohm-32ohm) to premium full-size headphones (up to 600ohm). This is especially useful with the increasing popularity of mobile devices, which normally ship with low impedance/high sensitivity headsets.

Xonar Essence STU has room for three swappable Op-Amps, which can be replaced by users to adjust tonal performance based on personal taste. This open-ended and customizable design is inherited from previous Xonar Essence audio products, and remains true to the series’ commitment to accommodating as many customer preferences as possible.

Additional advanced features are a jumper switch that re-routes sound via Xonar Essence STU, allowing it to be used as a pre-amplifier in conjunction with a dedicated power amplifier. Customers can opt to adjust master volume directly on the power amplifier without having to reach Xonar Essence STU controls. Also, a selectable DC servo headphone output can be activated to minimize pop noise which may occur when powering on.

AVAILABILITY & PRICING
The ASUS Xonar Essence STU will be available from late October worldwide with an MSRP of US$399.

Having already seen what the ASUS R9 280X DirectCU II TOP can do at default speeds the obvious next step, once they had time to fully explore the options, was for [H]ard|OCP to see just how far this GPU can overclock. To make a long story short, they went from a default clock of 1070MHz up to 1230MHz and pushed the RAM to 6.6GHz from 6.4GHz though the voltage needed to be bumped from 1.2v to 1.3v. The actual frequencies are nowhere near as important as the effect on gameplay though, to see those results you will have to click through to the full article.

"We take the new ASUS R9 280X DirectCU II TOP video card and find out how high it will overclock with GPU Tweak and voltage modification. We will compare performance to an overclocked GeForce GTX 770 and find out which card comes out on top when pushed to its overclocking limits."

The new R9 280X, R9 270X and R7 260X DirectCU II models are overclocked to perform faster than reference designs while also featuring DIGI+ voltage-regulator modules (VRMs) for a smooth and stable power supply and GPU Tweak software for tuning the graphics card. The new R7 250 and R7 240 cards benefit from many exclusive ASUS technologies and tools including Super Alloy Power components for superior stability, dust-proof fans for improved card lifespan and GPU Tweak.

The Matrix R9 280X graphics card allows for overclocking on a purely hardware level with VGA Hotwire connections and TweakIt for voltage control, Turbo Fan button to crank up the fan to 100% and a Safe Mode button to instantly default the GPU back to factory BIOs. It also includes DIGI+ voltage-regulator modules (VRMs) for smooth and stable power, and GPU Tweak tuning software that allows users to squeeze the last drop of performance out of their graphics card.

DirectCU II — Faster, quieter and cooler, even in the heat of battle
ASUS DirectCU II cooling technology places highly conductive copper cooling pipes in direct contact with a card’s GPU so heat dissipates quickly and with greater efficiency. Compared with reference Radeon R9 and R7 designs, ASUS R9 280X, R9 270X and R7 260X with DirectCU II allow the latest AMD Radeon GPUs to run up to 20% cooler, three times (3X) quieter– so gamers can enjoy ultra-stable play with minimal noise.

R7 250 and R7 240 — Super Alloy Power components and dust-proof fans for superior stability and longevity
The ASUS R7 250 and R7 240 graphics cards both include exclusive Super Alloy Power technology. Super Alloy Power’s solid-state capacitors and hardened MOSFETs all withstand much greater stress and heat due to the application of specially-formulated materials — increasing reliability and overall card lifespan. Compared with reference designs, ASUS R7 250 and R7 240’s Super Alloy Power components deliver 35%-cooler operation and a lifespan that’s up to two-and-a-half times (2.5X) longer.

Additionally, the fans on the ASUS R7 250 and R7 240 are extremely resilient and dust-proof. The Dust-Proof fans ensures that even the smallest airborne particles are barred, reducing debris accumulation and retaining peak performance over a longer lifespan — typically improving lifespan by up to 25% compared to reference fans.

GPU Tweak now includes Live Streaming, an online-streaming tool that lets users share on-screen action over the internet in real time – so others can watch live gaming sessions. It is even possible to add scrolling text, pictures and webcam images to the streaming window.

With the release of Ivy Bridge-E the X79 chipset and socket 2011 are making a comeback. The chipset is not new and the new motherboards coming out sport the same specifications but with added features that were not available when the chipset was first introduced. ASUS has added USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gbps controllers, improved SSD caching as well as updating both the onboard WiFi and audio; no Thunderbolt though. [H]ard|OCP took it through its benchmarks and overclocking tests and found that the added features do make this a great choice for a new Socket 2011 system but not really worth purchasing if you are already on an X79 motherboard.

"ASUS resurrects the tried and true X79 chipset putting it back in the spotlight with updated features just in time for Ivy Bridge-E CPUs. We take a look at ASUS’ X79 Deluxe and not only see if this motherboard is worth your hard earned cash, but answer the question: is there any compelling reason for existing X79 users to upgrade?"

Intel recently launched its next generation Thunderbolt 2 interface, and several devices using the new connection were shown off at the Intel Developer Forum. The major takeaway from Thunderbolt 2 is the increased bandwidth and benefits to video production houses working with large uncompressed media. Specifically, Thunderbolt 2 is a PCI-Express based external interface that sends both video output and data down a single cable. Upgrades over the original 10Gbps Thunderbolt standard include an updated to the DisplayPort 1.2 video standard and double the bandwidth to 20Gbps. Thanks to the increased bandwidth, Thunderbolt 2 enables simultaneous video output and video file transfer of 4K media. Video editors can watch and transfer 4K video to an DisplayPort-equipped monitor and external RAID array respectively.

Intel is kicking off the Thunderbolt 2 standard with the launch of its DSL5520 and DSL5320 Thunderbolt 2 controllers, which are already in the hands of device manufactures. In fact, there were quite a few bits of hardware being shown off at this years IDF that already support the new Thunderbolt 2 standard. Intel is expecting even more devices in 2014.

Professional video editing and workstation hardware with Thunderbolt 2

While consumer PC hardware will be supporting Thunderbolt 2, the new interface is most beneficial to professional users and IDF was the launch pad for several high end pieces of production gear. Sonnet launched the Echo Express III external PCI-E card chassis that allows users to hook up PCI-E cards to systems via Thunderbolt 2 (for example: video capture card or fast solid state storage). Also, AJA showed off a video/audio capture box called the IO 4K that supports daisy chaining other Thunderbolt 2 devices and acts as a video capture card capable of taking in 4K and UltraHD video sources as well as high end audio inputs. Finally, PROMISE Technology showed off its Pegasus2 RAID 5 enclosure and SANLink2 Thunderbolt 2 bridge device.

External boxes are not the only professional products with Thunderbolt 2 at IDF, however. The technology is also being integrated into workstations, including the Apple Mac Pro with six Thunderbolt 2 ports and HP’s new lineup of desktop workstations.

Z87 Motherboards With Thunderbolt 2

Thunderbolt 2 will also be used in consumer gear as well, including Z87 motherboards. Asus, AsRock, and Gigabyte all had motherboards on display that each featured two Thunderbolt 2 ports. The new interface will be available on the multiple boards from the manufacturers. German tech site ComputerBase.de posted several photos of Thunderbolt 2-equipped motherboards and gave a glimpse at the upcoming hardware.

The Asus Z87-Deluxe/Quad, an AsRock Z87 motherboard, and Gigabyte Z87X-UD5 TH spotted at IDF by ComputerBase.de.

The following chart breaks down the specifications. Unfortunately pricing and availability have not been announced for these boards, but expect to pay a premium for the high end gaming hardware and new Thunderbolt 2 controller. (The Asrock Extreme 11/ac in particular takes the word “high end” to the, well, extreme.)

ASUS Z87-Deluxe/Quad

AsRock Extreme 11/ac

Gigabyte Z87X-UD7 TH

SATA 6Gbps

10

10

10

PCI-E 3.0 x16

3

4

5

PCI-E 3.0 x1

4

3

2

mPCI-E

n/a

3

1

Rear IO:

---------------------

--------------------

----------------------

PS/2

n/a

1

1

Audio

6 x analog, 1 x optical

5 x analog, 1 x optical

5 x analog, 1 x optical

Thunderbolt 2

2

2

2

GbE

2

2

1

Video out

1 x HDMI

1 x HDMI, 1 x DP

1 x HDMI, 1 x DVI

USB 3.0

6 (+4 USB 2.0)

6 (+2 USB 2.0)

6

eSATA

n/a

1

n/a

It is promising to see so many devices this early into Thunderbolt 2's launch, and the various high end motherboard using both Thunderbolt 2 and USB 3 gives consumers the best of both worlds and access to all manner of external peripherals. The bandwidth increase is certainly welcome, and I am interested to see what sorts of new devices it enables. For now, I think Thunderbolt 2 is going to be mainly a professional (or at least "pro-sumer") technology. With that siad, 4K capture and video output is already being worked on, and I am curious to see what other applications and technologies will really be able to push the new 20Gbps interface and what trickles down to the consumer space!

Are you excited about Thunderbolt 2? Let us know what you think of the IDF-launched products and the interface technology in general in the comments below!

Last week at IFA 2013 I wrote about a new ASUS Transformer device called the Trio that combined a Haswell processor and Atom Z2760 Clover Trail CPU for a very interesting 3-scenario unit. It is definitely an interesting product worth reading about, but ASUS took some time tonight to announce another new Transformer Book: the T100.

The Transformer Book T100 is a 10.1-in ultraportable that can be used as either a standard notebook or as a stand alone tablet; exactly how previous Transformers have functioned. The design is sleek and light weight: 2.4 pounds for both sections and only 1.2 pounds in tablet only form.

Powering the T100 is the brand new Intel Atom Z3740 quad-core SoC (max burst rate of 1.8 GHz) based on the Bay Trail platform and Silvermont architecture. Earlier today we published our review of the Bay Trail processor and the performance improvements over Clover Trail are impressive and noticeable. Energy efficiency is also improved and ASUS claims that the T100 will get more than 11 hours of battery life.

The screen is an IPS panel with a resolution of 1366x768. It runs Windows 8.1 and includes USB 3.0 for accessories and external storage.

The ASUS Transformer T100 will sell for $349 with 32GB of storage and $399 with 64GB. For the kind of performance levels and platform flexibility we see with Bay Trail, the sub-$350 price point is very impressive. Will Android tablets start to take a hit with these low priced Windows options?

Being announced today along with the T100, the ASUS Transformer Book T300 is a larger version of the T100 but powered by Intel's 4th Generation Core processors, Haswell. The ultra-low voltage processor is the Core i5-4200U or 4500U, both of which are new dual-core variants with 15 watt TDPs. The 13.3-in screen has a 1920x1080 resolution while the hardware can include storage up to 256GB and DDR3 memory up to 8GB.

With a weight of 2.4 pounds when docked and 1.8 pounds in tablet form, the T300 is still able to muster a solid 8 hours of battery life.

I am going to have some hands on time with these notebooks / tablets very soon so stay tuned for more info!!

Fremont, CA (September 11, 2013) - ASUS today announced that the Republic of Gamers Rampage IV Black Edition motherboard has achieved five world records in 3DMark 11, 3DMark Fire Strike, Cinebench, and CPU-Z Memory benchmarks the OC Main Event San Francisco, co-hosted by ASUS and Corsair, sponsored by Intel. In celebration of the 10th anniversary of Intel Extreme Edition, pro-overclockers from around the world gathered with ROG team members Shamino, Raja, and coolice. The team was able to establish five world records using the newly-announced Rampage IV Black Edition Motherboard, Intel 4th Generation Core i7 Extreme Edition Processors and Corsair Dominator Platinum Memory in both 2D and 3D configurations.

ROG Overclocking: Five Major World Records!
Furthering its commitment to the pro-overclocking community, ASUS invited world-class overclockers 8 Pack, Gunslinger, Rbuass, Dumo and Fugger to join forces with ROG team members and engineers Shamino, Raja and coolice. Each brought their unique professional experience, working together to push the Intel Core i7-4960X processors and NVIDIA GeForce TITAN graphics cards to their limits.

Shamino, Rbuass, 8 Pack and Gunslinger focused on the demanding 4-way SLI 3DMark 11 and Fire Strike benchmarks. On 3DMark 11, the team posted scores of 38,231 marks and 38,227 marks in 4-Way SLI on Entry and Performance presets respectively. On 3DMark Fire Strike, a score of 31,998 marks was achieved.

Using the 2D hardware configuration, the team was able to post a score of 17.55 points on 6-core Cinebench, a category record for the Intel Core i7-4960X. Lastly, the team achieved a memory overclock of 3900 MHz using Corsair Dominator Platinum memory, an unprecedented speed for quad-channel memory configurations.

"We are proud that previous ASUS X79 motherboards have dominated overclocking rankings by breaking 26 world records since the chipset launch," said Jackie Hsu, ASUS Corporate Vice President and General Manager of Worldwide Sales, Open Platform Business Group. "The accomplishments we demonstrated here at the OC Main Event San Francisco are a testament to what is achievable by combining world-class R&D with incredible talents from the enthusiast community.”

Xavier Laurent, Director of Product Marketing for Corsair adds "As a company that creates products by enthusiasts for enthusiasts, collaborating with like-minded partners ASUS and Intel to break world benchmarking records using Corsair Dominator Platinum and Vengeance Pro memory was a natural fit. The success of the OC Main Event San Francisco demonstrates the continued strength of the enthusiast community and validates our commitment to this portion of the ecosystem."

Tonight at the OC Main Event sponsored by ASUS, Intel and Corsair, a new X79 motherboard was announced. The ASUS Rampage IV Black Edition is being called "bullet proof" by some ASUS personnel I spoke with and should be one of the (if not THE) best X79 platform for Ivy Bridge-E processors available.

ASUS takes a lot of pride in its motherboard development and they claim to have put 5x as many hours into developing the intricacies of things like memory traces compared to previous X79 offerings. Over 500 engineering samples of the Black Edition were made prior to finalization and more than 10,000 man hours were put into the design.

The Rampage IV Black Edition combines features of the Formula series with those of the Extreme boards to really make the ultimate flagship offering. Things the advanced audio layout for gamers as well as the perfected overclocking capability will make this motherboard impressive, but also pretty damned expensive.

I was told that unlike the previous Black Edition this motherboard is not a limited edition and will run until the market demands otherwise.

Keep an eye out for news from the OC Main Event as ASUS has some plans for these overclocking records...

With 3GB of memory ASUS' GeForce GTX 780 DirectCU II OC card strays from the pack in terms of features and design. With new and improved DirectCU II cooling on the card, high quality chokes and 10 phase power you should be able to push far ahead of the factory overclock of 889MHz with a boost of 941MHz. You can use [H]ard|OCP's result of 1093-1145MHz core and 6.158GHz memory as a goal to try to reach, as long as you are willing to put the power sliders all the way to the right. Check out how it performs in their full review.

"ASUS revamped the DirectCU II cooling system and visual style, providing a full non-reference video card with the ASUS GeForce GTX 780 DiretCU II OC. New is the hybrid CoolTech fan providing improved airflow, and a 10mm heat pipe. We will see how this video card performs against several GPUs."

How about some Ultrabooks? We got Ultrabooks. Thin, light, and metal brushed with their characteristic circular pattern. They are proud of that design, proud enough to cover it, the top of the lid, with a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 3 to protect it from scratches and gouges. It feels a little absurd to say, but covering metal in glass for increased durability seems to make sense and could help your premium laptop look new for longer.

These 13.3-inch laptops come in two resolutions: 1920x1080 Full HD is the lower offering, with 2560x1440 for higher-end tastes. Both monitors are IPS-based with 10-point multi-touch capabilities.

The raw specifications for the UX301 are:

Intel Core i5-4200U or i7-4500U or i7-4558U

4GB or 8GB DDR3L

Intel HD 5100 Graphics

SATA 3 SSD (up to 512GB RAID0)

13.3-inch 2560 x 1440 WQHD or 1920 x 1080 Full HD IPS multitouch

802.11ac (dual-band), Bluetooth 4.0

Mini DisplayPort, Micro-HDMI 1.4

2x USB3.0, 3.5mm headphone/mic, SD card reader

Windows 8 or Windows 8 Pro

For the UX302:

Intel Core i5-4200U or i7-4500U

4GB DDR3L

Intel HD 4400 or NVIDIA GeForce GT 730M (2GB)

Up to a 750GB HDD with 16 GB SSD cache

1920 x 1080 Full HD IPS multitouch

802.11ac (dual-band), Bluetooth 4.0

Mini Displayport, HDMI 1.4

3x USB 3.0, 3.5mm headphone/mic, SD card reader

Windows 8 or Windows 8 Pro

The UX301 seems to be the more-premium device with obviously higher specs, at least for options, despite being almost 2mm thinner (15.5mm vs 17.2 for the UX302) and a quarter of a pound lighter (1.38kg vs 1.5 kg for the UX302). Both models are listed as a 50W battery, which I assume means 50Wh since watts are not a unit of electrical storage, but I am not entirely sure.